2023-08-30 16:33:46
Dakar, August 30 (APS) – Recent violence and attacks in Niger have led to more than 20,000 new internal displacements in one month, said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
UNHCR is aware of around 20,000 new internal displacements in Niger between the end of July and the end of August, mainly in Tillabéry and Diffa, the UN news site reported.
Reporting on a press conference organized Tuesday in Geneva (Switzerland), by officials of this UN agency, UN info reports that the political crisis in Niger has accentuated the movement of population displacements inside the country.
For UNHCR, the current political crisis, with no clear solution in sight, is generating uncertainty and concern as the country continues to suffer repeated attacks from non-state armed groups, particularly near the borders of Mali and Burkina Faso.
“This situation has increased protection risks for refugees, asylum seekers and their hosts,” said UNHCR representative in Niger Emmanuel Gignac.
The UN agency notes at the same time that the sanctions imposed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Niger came into force during the lean season, marking the transition between the agricultural season and that rains.
“Food and basic commodity prices, already on the rise before this crisis, jumped following the introduction of the sanctions,” UNHCR noted.
He adds that the humanitarian organizations thus expect an impact of inflation on the populations insofar as the prices of foodstuffs seem likely to continue to increase.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that the closure of borders with ECOWAS countries will make food and other basic products more scarce.
Niger is in the grip of a political crisis born of the overthrow of democratically elected President Mouhamed Bazoum by soldiers led by General Abdourahamane Tchiani. The country also lives under the threat of an armed intervention by ECOWAS countries envisaged with the aim of restoring constitutional order.
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